August 7th - Mercury (rx) conjunct Venus

She gives him a helping hand early in his retrograde--a moment of sweetness or repair. Venus doesn't necessarily prefer to spend her afternoon this way, especially in her sign of fall, but it's helpful for Mercury (who's calling the shots). However, Mars & Jupiter are now already within 3 degrees of conjunction--the range at which we began to see dramatic events for the Mars-Uranus conjunction in July.